This was not only retaliation for the La Belle bombings nine days earlier, but also for other planned assassination attempts against US officials (SOURCE). These bombing raids on Libya were known as Operation El Dorado Canyon. Operation El Dorado Canyon began on April 14, 1986 and began with air strikes against Tripoli and Benghazi. The attack included fourteen A-6E Navy Attack Jets in the Mediterranean and eighteen FB-111s from the US base in England (SOURCE). Since France closed their airspace, they had to fly over French airspace adding another 2,600 miles to the journey, forcing the planes to refuel while in flight.